


And Then It Began

by Abbyyynormal



Category: Markiplier (YouTube RPF), Youtube RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, My First AO3 Post, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 07:18:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4868024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyyynormal/pseuds/Abbyyynormal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My timer never started. I was talk of the town because of it. My mother played me up like a freak show about it but I couldn't bring myself to get it removed. I think I finally understand why...</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then It Began

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3325493) by [MHGeek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MHGeek/pseuds/MHGeek). 



Chapter One: Stuck

When I was born my parents turned down the timer for me. They knew it wouldn’t work until around puberty anyways but they still wanted me to make my own decision. Upon hearing this story for the first time I didn’t see it as a big deal. They had decided against putting a weird watch thing into their first born’s wrist. What was so wrong with that? Once I hit three and they learned my brother was on the way, they started questioning if they wanted to do as they had done with me and wait to get the timer. Finally my mom decided to bring me to my pediatrician to set up an appointment to get a timer. I don’t remember much of that actual procedure. I just remember being in a darkened room with a single light shining onto my arm while my mother talked to me. It wasn’t painful at all either, which my parents were both incredibly grateful for.

“’It should start counting when she hits about twelve’ is what the doctors told me,” my mother explained in the living room to a new couple who had moved in next door. They were newlyweds, their timers having gone off a year ago. They looked so happy, entirely in love. “But it just never turned on.” She glanced back at me and gave me the same pitying glance that everyone had always given me. I fidgeted a bit, pulling the sleeves down past my wrists to hide the shame of having a completely frozen timer. It had never even lit up before. It was like it was broken, and my feelings matched it whenever I saw a couple like that in my living room together.

“Kate, Brian, this is my daughter Linelle.” My mom stood up and ushered me into the living room where Kate and Brian stood to shake my hand. I felt my sleeve drift up a bit and watched as Kate’s eyes moved downwards to see the timer before bouncing up to meet mine again with an apologetic smile. My facial expression remained the same, as I had trained it to do. There was no point in arguing with people who wanted to stare at it, who wanted to see the girl whose timer didn’t work.

“Nice to meet you,” I said quietly before leaving the living room, grabbing my purse, and heading outside. Today was a planning day, a nice Saturday away from college and homework where I could relax and help my best friend plan. Plan her wedding…

I wasn’t the only person in the world who had a timer that had never turned on, but I was the only one in the history of my neighborhood. Due to this my mother absolutely adored telling people the sorry story about her daughter who would never find her true love. A suburban girl whose timer was bound to never work? That was only supposed to happen to the people in poverty or on the streets, wasn’t it? They didn’t deserve love, no, but the poor “blonde beauty” of this sweet, apple pie, flags a-wavin’, grills a-burnin’, fireworks a-glowin’ town right outside of Cincinnati? Why was she being denied it?

Hell if I knew and hell if I cared. If I was meant to be alone, so be it.

See, the timer didn’t start when I was twelve which I didn’t think was a big deal. I was a late bloomer, didn’t even get my period until I was about fourteen. I figured that for sure the timer would start alongside that but nope, not fourteen either. Not on my sweet sixteenth, not on my “Happy being a legal adult!” eighteenth, and most certainly not on my twenty-first which was a blur anyways because at that point, I didn’t want to have fun. I wanted to be able to have some beer while trying to ignore the fact that at my age I was surrounded by people who were either dating or engaged and I was waiting for some guy to even hit on me. It also didn’t help that I had to go through all of these birthdays without my timer turning on while my now eighteen year old brother had met his soulmate at eleven.

I turned the music up louder as I drove to Caroline’s house. She had apologized numerous times for the planning days. She hated asking me to be her Maid of Honor, even though she knew I couldn’t be mad about it. My best friend was getting married, who was I to get upset over her happiness? Besides, Nate was the man of her dreams and I could not picture anyone better for her (Even though no one would ever be good enough for her.)

On the bright side of all of this, the planning for today was for our trip to Los Angeles where Caroline’s Bachelorette party would be taking place. It was the biggest splurge the five of us had ever made but we knew it would be worth it. Caroline had also been kind enough to point out that perhaps while we were away I could meet someone to convince me to get rid of the damn timer once and for all like she had been trying to do for ages.

I pulled into the driveway, parked, and turned the car off. I happily let myself inside her house with the spare key she had made for me. I called out for Caroline and Nate but heard nothing except for barking as two golden retrievers headed my way. It made sense, their cars were gone. With both dogs following me I decided to head into the backyard, a massive amount of land where Nate and Caroline’s dogs became best friends with their neighbors’ dogs. I sat on the back porch, watching the dogs run to and fro. I couldn’t help but smile at how much fun it looked like they were having. They stopped playing when a door shut and one of Caroline’s neighbors walked outside. I got a quick glimpse of them before seeing a dachshund and a huge white dog sprint into the backyard. I only heard a chuckle and something along the lines of “Lucy nearly knocked me on my ass” before hearing Caroline and Nate walk in.

The neighbor’s voice had elicited a weird buzzing on my wrist, as if the timer was vibrating, but when I looked at it, the screen was still blank. I was beginning to wonder if perhaps the lack of it working was affecting my health. “Well Care, you might get what you’ve been bugging me about,” I said, still looking at the timer. “I think it’s acting up for some weird reason. It just vibrated or something. I’ll go to the doctor and get it checked out, okay?” I grinned as a smile grew on her face.

“Lynn, you know I only say it because I want you happy,” she explained. “And apparently healthy now, too. Besides, one of the strippers at the party is bound to not have a timer.” She smirked while I watched Nate’s face get red before he elbowed her playfully and left the room.

“You know, one day you’re going to say something and he’s just gonna leave,” I said, clearly joking as I helped myself to some pop. “I mean, he never would have been good enough for you anyways.”

Care laughed and grabbed a can of pop for herself. “He would never leave me,” she replied. “He is my soulmate after all…”

She didn’t mean for her words to hurt, and I hated even more that they did hurt me, but I was beyond grateful for when she opened up her laptop to start showing me plane ticket prices. Anything to get my mind off of that stupid timer…

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully, this isn't too bad considering it's my first work for this website and it's my first time working with the soulmate timers but nevertheless I am excited! Be warned, I am terrible with putting up new chapters, but a new chapter will ALWAYS pop up eventually.
> 
> -Abby
> 
> UPDATE: I am discontinuing this work. After Mark recently started dating Amy (Amyplier for life) I honestly felt a bit weird about continuing the fic. Sorry for any disappointments.


End file.
